Design Thinking: History, Theory, Technology and Practice

This blog is intended to serve as a repository for issues related to Design and a forum for this designer to share his perspective on the factors that have and are shaping the profession.
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Contact: myroncurtissmith@hotmail.com

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Uber and Airbnb are two models for the new sharing economy. These organizations have disrupted the traditional hospitality and transportation frameworks and replaced them with a series of tough questions to be answered though the creation of new legislative policies.

Friday, June 26, 2015

Janet is flaming anticipation for her new music by selecting type very expressive of the digital world in which we are living in. To introduce her single the she animates her name as reflecting the sound waves embedded in the A and the E of her name - cleaver!

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Well it feels great to know that my thinking about the future of public space is being validated by the implementation of a solution idea that I proposed in 2003 to address a multi-tude of urban issues such as: the growing digital divide, the urban challenge of identifying parking spaces, the need for cities to generate revenues and ultimately for cities to manage the public "virtual" spaces as they have used parking meters for decades to control the use of physical spaces in cities.

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

The federal government is engaged in finding the opportunities that technology affords to improve the services provided to the nation. The formation of a group of bright techies are working on the problems of government, they are known as 18F.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Pentagram partner Eddie Opara is a London-born graphic designer living in the US. In this interview at AGI Open 2013, he speaks about creating diagrams that capture moments in time, his collaboration with MIT SENSEable City Laboratory and his advice to young designers.

Sunday, March 08, 2015

There is something about Haider Ackerman's designs that are so visually pleasing. The luxe fabrics, unique shapes, multiple color palettes, mix of textures and so much more...make this Colombian one to watch.

Wednesday, March 04, 2015

"When the point of contact between the product and the people becomes a point of friction, then the industrial designer has failed.
On the other hand, if people are made safer, more comfortable, more eager to purchase, more efficient—or just plain happier—by contact with the product, then the designer has succeeded." - Henry Dreyfuss

Sunday, March 01, 2015

The titans of the information age: Apple, Facebook and Google have all signed off on building new campuses each design by a star-architect David Foster, Frank Gerhy and Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)with Thomas Heatherwick respectively.
Below Bjarke Ingels and Thomas Heatherwick's Google Campus:
Below David Foster Design of Apple's HQ:
Below Frank Gehry's design of Facebook's campus:

I get the impression that Mark Zuckerburg is the present day Henry Ford. As the automobile industry and Ford Motor Company was the defining category and company for the 20th century ability to innovate an scale up an economic model, I see social media and Facebook as the industry and company defining the 21 century and American ingenuity.

Saturday, February 14, 2015

In our houses, cars, and factories, we’re surrounded by tiny, intelligent devices that capture data about how we live and what we do. Now they are beginning to talk to one another. Soon we’ll be able to choreograph them to respond to our needs, solve our problems, even save our lives.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

The office work space continues to shift pushed by technology and the changing nature of the work itself.
One significant change in work is its increasing mobility, the ability to work remotely is reducing the amount of physical space needed for housing workers.

The office plan introduced in 1964 was designed by Robert Propst for Herman Miller was call the Action Office. Propst argued the office work was mental work and the environment should enhance that effort.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

New materials play a instrumental role in unleashing new ways of solving problems and improving products.

"Although it was the thinnest material in the known universe, it was a hundred and fifty times stronger than an equivalent weight of steel—indeed, the strongest material ever measured. It was as pliable as rubber and could stretch to a hundred and twenty per cent of its length. Research by Philip Kim, then at Columbia University, determined that graphene was even more electrically conductive than previously shown." - John Colapinto

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Design and Violence is an online curatorial experiment that explores the
manifestations of violence in contemporary society. Pairing critical
thinkers with challenging design case studies, the project aims to spark
discussion and bring the ambiguous relationship between design and
violence to center stage for designers and the people they serve—all of
us. -MOMA

Thursday, June 12, 2014

An experimental program to give talented designers the hands-on experience, mentorship, critiques, tools, workspace, and connections they need to create products and start companies that may just change the world. It’s 30 weeks. It’s in New York. And it starts September 2014.Website: How to Apply

Thursday, June 05, 2014

Should Creatives Learn To Code? is a question many creative types are asking themselves.
Recently I've encouraged many young aspiring creatives to consider exposing themselves to coding, "just to become familiar with the language of the digital age".

Tuesday, June 03, 2014

With the recent purchase of the Beats headphone and streaming music company by Apple, tongues are a wagging trying to understand what it means. For me, the insight is urban hip-hop culture has arrived at the door of this generations most successful design centric company. Not since Nike teamed with Micheal Jordan to release his trail-blazing Air Jordan line of shoes and apparel has the urban hip-hop aesthetic been so unapologetically embraced by an industry leading business organization.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Tristan Walker has taken on the challenge of identifying and addressing the black consumer market with products designed with their needs in mind. His first product offering seeks to address the grooming products category with a shaving system called Bevel.

I find this story interesting on many levels: there is opportunity to bring the learnings and skills gleaned from silicon valley startups an apply it more broadly to under served markets I get it; the discovery of design by young entrepreneurs is exciting for the aesthetic that can be brought to the marketplace, just think of theBEAT headphones by Dr.Dre's; the time is now to sit at the table and be heard, think of Kayne's demand's and frustration with NIKE.